An inn with a restaurant, five guest bedrooms and 20 staff may not sound like an intensive energy user with great potential for savings, but a half-day visit from an adviser convinced Anthony Mears, owner of the Ivy House pub in Chalfont St Giles, Buckinghamshire, otherwise. "It was frightening," he says of the waste the adviser found, adding that the visit was "one of the most profitable half days I have ever spent".

The advice and a £20,000 loan from the Carbon Trust, which Mears put towards improvements including new boilers and a ventilation system, cut the Ivy House's energy use by 35-40%.

This was significant when the loan started in 2003, but has become more so: the inn's gas supplier is raising unit charges by 72%. "The hike in gas prices will probably increase annual savings by £1,000 to £1,500," says Mears.

Some of the advice was simple - such as door sensors for the cellar lights so they go on when someone enters, and off when they leave - and light-sensitive external lights that stay off until dark. Mears is now going further, and changing the external halogen bulbs to energy-efficient ones: "It's better-quality light, which makes the place look better and will be cheaper to run."

The loan was used mainly for a new ventilation system, which recycles heat, and two efficient condensing boilers, replacing one over-worked, 10-year-old boiler. The building was also zoned, cutting unnecessary heating.